“Family and ute tax:” Federal Coalition still obsessing over electric weekends

The Federal Coalition has vowed to defenestrate the newly minted New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES), describing it as a “family and ute tax” that echoes its Morrison-era scare campaigns when it claimed that electric vehicles would “ruin the weekend.”

“We are going to repeal Labor’s family and ute tax,” the Coalition’s spokesman for home affairs, and former policy guru at the far right Institute of Public Affairs, James Paterson told ABC’s Radio National.

The NVES is due to kick in from July 1, and imposes an average emissions target for vehicle makers that encourages them to either introduce more electric vehicles, or introduce technology that reduces the emissions of their internal combustion engine cars.

The Coalition wants it to be voluntary, but Jake Whitehead says there has already been a voluntary standard run by the main car lobby, the FCAI, and that proved to be useless.

“No NVES policy around the world has been successful without a pricing mechanism,” Whitehead wrote on LinkedIn.

“And besides.. no car maker in reality will pay a penalty – at least in the early years but maybe for the entire scheme – since the NVES establishes an efficient credit trading market where any target missed can be offset at a fraction of the $50 / gram infringement cost.

“We need strategic policy that charts a pathway for Australia to achieve energy independence.

“We have the ability to power our transport system with 100% Australian made energy, while driving down fuel costs and emissions, but only if we start bringing in more efficient petrol, diesel, hybrid, PHEV and BEV models today.”

Whitehead points out that the Coalition tried, on several occasions, to introduce an NVES style policy, but was chased away by Murdoch-media headlines of “carbon tax on wheels”, and now they are rolling out the same memes.

“They are doing a major disservice to all Australians now by trying to turn what is a fair, reasonable and critical policy into a political football,” he said.

Electric Vehicle Council CEO Julie Delvecchio says removing penalties from NVES will prevent Australians from saving money at the bowser by driving EVs and more fuel-efficient petrol and hybrid cars.

“The NVES doesn’t work without the credit and penalty system. Removing fines from the NVES is like having road rules without enforcement—no consequences for breaking the rules and no motivation to follow them,” Delvecchio said.

“All Australians benefit from the NVES, but the ones who benefit most are those living in the outer suburbs who commute longer distances and are looking to save money.”

Some explanations from Whitehead:

– The Australian market is already ahead of the 2025 NVES target and on track to beat the 2026 target, so the idea that these early targets are hard to hit is nonsense.

– Any theoretical miss of the 2025 target is not payable until 2028 and can be made up in 2026 and 2027. There is an ongoing 3 year rolling period to balance any credits/debits.

– Given the NVES starts off weaker than the current average emissions rate in Australia, tonnes of surplus credits will be accrued in the early years. These credits will not only smooth the trajectory for car makers but will be available for purchase at a fraction of the cost of the infringement price.

Without penalties, the NVES will be a toothless tiger and Australia will remain a dumping ground for inefficient, expensive vehicles.

It’s extremely disappointing the Federal Coalition would rather Australians be dependent on expensive foreign fuel over supporting cheap Australian-made energy to power our vehicles.